*Parts of this story are true. I originally was going to post this last October but due to my father’s passing I held back. I would love to know what you think of the story. Please leave a comment.

The drive to Silver Lake was beautiful. The sunlight shone through the branches and hit the orange and yellow coloured leaves. Warm sun and the shadow’s coolness hung in the air. Silver lake looked dark and more black and the silver was lost in the water’s abyss. The town close by was busy and the coffee shops and restaurants were buzzing with people and an unusual swarm of wasps attacking people as they ate food on the patio. No people aloud to sit indoors due to the pandemic but that’s not the scary part of this story.

I expected the town to be a little more serene and quiet but it was busy as can be. After lunch I looked at my phone to check what stores were around. A chocolatier, a donut shop, books shops and coffee shops. I looked up and in the distance I could see an Antique Shop. I looked back down at my phone but it wasn’t listed on the map. I told my family that I wanted to check out the Antique shop and that I was looking for a vintage candle holder and hopefully a few vintage books.

We walked toward the shop and everything around me started to look broken down and damaged. Two puppies jumped up and appeared from a dirty house window. They scared me a bit but they were cute. One metre away from the store the smell of “old things” hung in the air. The windows yellow, old and dirty. Old knickknacks displayed in the windows with little white tags. I questioned my self. “Should we go in?”

We walked in and no one was there to greet us. I thought about how I wanted to find the book “Emma” written by Jane Austen. I started to feel a little strange. My finger touching the spines of the books and my family trying to pull me away to another area. I walk two steps away and two steps back to where I was looking and my finger pointed and pulled out a navy blue covered book. I looked at the title and it was “Emma” by Jane Austen. I looked at the book and quickly put it back feeling very strange and spooked to be honest. Of all the books the one that I wanted was here? The only thing I could think of was “this is creepy juju”.

As I walked through the shop the doll’s eyes followed me.

Sinister eyes…. following me.

I quickly walked away and told my family that we need to go. Two unkept little girls started to talk to my daughters. I pulled my girls away and headed toward the EXIT. They looked like the twins from “The Shining” and they were playing with dirty dolls.

On the way out my husband asked if they had a candle holder and the two old women Ethel and Wilma were at the cash. Ethel helped my husband find the candle holder and across from the cash sat their old son that looked like the boy from “13 Ghosts”. He looked at me in a creepy way. He got up and walked away. I looked at the cash register. A bowlful of garlic for sale? Why garlic? Vampires in the town? I was so curious and yet I wanted to get out of the store.

The space swallowed me up. In the beginning it seemed fine but by the end of our walk around the store my energy was gone… Dolls with eyes that stare into your soul… Statues, old bottles, tea cups and vintage clothing…books that speak in whispers…pulls of energy that suck the life our of you…”let’s go” I said “hurry!”

Photo Credit CANVA.